You are here

Exclusive - Poyet: 'Luis Suarez is 100% not a racist'

Gus Poyet insists Luis Suarez is ‘100% not a racist’ – and says England needs to adapt to foreign players coming into the country.

The Liverpool striker has been charged by the FA with abuse that “included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra”, but the Brighton boss doesn’t believe he should have a case to answer.

Poyet said: “I know Luis very well and I will go to court if someone wants to prove he’s not racist. We live in Uruguay with plenty of people who have different colour skin. We all live together and play football together. I’ve been room-mates with people of different colour and we have no problems at all.

“I can assure you and everyone Luis is not a racist. We use different words and it is a different kind of situation. What hurts me the most is that you accuse someone. Luis Suarez has been accused of being a racist.

“You cannot accuse people without a proper investigation, especially when it’s a foreigner who is coming from a different place where we treat people of colour in a different way. So it was very easy to accuse someone.

“You need to go first vey deep into it to see if there is maybe a case. For me there is nothing at all and we’re making things look bigger than they are and that hurts.”

And Poyet claims the authorities in England have to understand the way the rest of the world views terms that could be construed as racist, although he concedes players coming into the UK also need to adapt to the different culture.

He added: “I played with a player, and nobody knew him as Fernando Cáceres. Everyone knows him worldwide as Negro Caceres – even in the newspapers and on television they all him that. Is that racist? In England it is but in the rest of the world, in South America or Spain, it’s not. Because I read that 100 times in newspapers and I listen to TV programmes calling Fernando, a good friend of mine, Negro Caceres.

“I understand people in this country and I changed my way of behaving, but Luis has been in this country just a few months.

“I played in Spain for seven years and they called me everything. It doesn’t make it right, but what do you want? Tell me what you want.

“Me, I’m not racist. I’ve lived with people of different colours in different countries and I adapted to every single situation. Suarez needs to adapt to England, and England needs to adapt to the players that come here.

“England should adapt to the foreigners that come here and England needs to understand how the rest of the world lives. If we have that understanding, easy.

“If you try to go to a point that doesn’t exist in the rest of the world, it’s going to be complicated. You think the rest of the world is wrong and you are right. Maybe it looks like you want the whole world to drive on the right hand side. Do you want that? So you need to adapt as well.

“Luis Suarez is 100% not a racist. We can accuse people and make Suarez look like a racist, but he’s not. He lived in a country where we live with people and work with people of other colour. And we trust them to the end.

“You are not racist when you go against one, but [you are] if you go against the whole world of different colour and nationalities. That is being racist, not saying one word in one moment.

“If that’s what you want, fair enough. I take it and accept it. I had to behave in a different way because I’ve been in England for 13 years. So I know what you are like and I adapt to that.

“Give Suarez another six months and I think he’ll be how you want him to be. “

Quote:

England should adapt to the foreigners that come here and England needs to understand how the rest of the world lives. If we have that understanding, easy